Protective armor for athletic use



Jan. 23, 1962 J. M. FOLEY PROTECTIVE ARMOR FOR ATHLETIC USE Filed April 24, 1959 E Y MM M M VM R 0 m M A o o x llnited States Patent Oflflce 3,l7,b39 Patented Jan. 23, 1952 3,017,639 PROTECTIVE ARMUR FOR ATHLETIC USE John Mark Foley, West Boylston, Mass. (23 Carmela Terrace, Thompsonville, tlonn.) Filed Apr. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 808,836 6 Claims. (Cl. 22)

This invention relates to protective armor or padding particularly adapted for protecting an athlete from the eifects of body blows during athletic contests, and in the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated herein, the invention is shown as applied to shoulder-pads.

It is one of the primary objects of the invention to provide such armor pads in which a blow received cannot be transmitted to any localized part of the body of the wearer but is cushioned and distributed over a wider area, and more particularly to prevent any blow from being applied directly as through mere padding onto the member of the body where the blow occurs, and the invention is carried out by providing an outer rigid shell which may be conveniently made of molded plastic of high impact strength and which is conformed somewhat to the shape of the portion of the body to be protected and there being an inner flexible layer in the nature of a wide strap or straps overlying the body directly, the rigid shell portion being resiliently mounted on the strap portion, so that when a blow is applied to the outer rigid part of the armor pad, the force is dissipated by retraction or compression of the resilient members which normally hold the rigid armor pad outwardly in spaced relation with respect to the strap; and the provision of armor padding as above recited in which the outer rigid shell is not directly connected to the strapping but is mounted at its ends on resilient means which allows a unitary motion of the entire body of the rigid shell with respect to the strapping contrary to devices which include air cushions or some such means between a pair of members which are secured together at their ends, and this in turn providing a much better protective device which absorbs the blows applied thereto rather than transmitting the blows to the part of the body directly under the area of the blow, and even preventing direct transmittal of the blow to other parts of the body through adjacent and attached pad or pad-supporting means therefor.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of FIG. 2. on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a section on line 44 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a view in end elevation, looking in the direction of arrow 5 in FIG. 1.

In carrying out the present invention, the same is shown as applied to shoulder pads for the game of football but it is to be understood that the invention may be applied to other parts of protective armor padding as to rib guards and the like.

Resting directly upon the shoulders of the wearer are a pair of wide flexible shoulder straps indicated at and 12 which are adapted to lie directly on the shoulders of the wearer in a snug fit thereon. The straps may be I connected in the form of a vest, and are provided with cups, pockets, or the like indicated at 14-. These cups appear at both front and rear and may be conveniently made of plastic material, or they might be made of metal or any material which is found to be suitable.

The cups 14 are provided with front, rear, end and bottom walls and are open at the top portions thereof as at 16 for the reception of end members as for instance at 18 which are slidably mounted therein. The end members 18 are provided at their lowermost ends with barriers or cross-members 20 which act somewhat in the nature of plungers within the pockets. These cross members 20 extend from side-to-side of a molded plastic substantially rigid shoulder guard armor plate member 22, 24, there being one right and one left-hand member as described.

Each shoulder armor member 22, 24 is shaped to conform somewhat to the natural contours of the body and they are particularly relieved as at 26 in FIG. 1 to suit the neck of the wearer. In any event, however, these members 22 and 24 are mounted on a series of resilient devices such as cushion springs 28 which are in turn mounted and held in the respective pockets 14 at the front and rear of the body, with the barriers or transverse members 20 contacting and resting on the upper ends of the springs. These springs may be separated by any kind of spacer 3t or otherwise held in position in any kind of guide means which may be found useful within the pockets 14. However, it is to be emphasized that any kind of resilient means such as rubber blocks,

torsion bars, leaf springs, etc. may be utilized in place of the springs that are shown herein.

The boxes 14 may be provided with means such as eyelet members for providing the front lacing 32 and also they may be provided with body-encircling straps such as are shown at 34. Also, preferably there is provided a rear lacing 36 which extends between the rear portions of these rigid members, the same extending in fairly close relationship with respect to each other as is clearly shown in FIG. 1..

The outline of the rigid members is as shown in FIG. 1 and they terminate laterally along the lines 38. Shoul- 'der cap means generally indicated at 40 are also provided, and these are shaped to cup over the shoulder as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and are attached with respect to the rigid members 22 and 24 in overlapping protective relation as by means of flexible straps at 42, or any other desired flexible means that might be found desirable.

In the action of the device, it will be clear that if a blow is imposed anywhere on the rigid members 22, 24, or ill, the eflfect of this blow will be transmitted to the ends thereof and onto springs 28, and thereby absorbed and dissipated without injury to the wearer. It will also be seen that the rigid members 22 and 40, 24 and 40, in combination are movable bodily vertically as for instance in FIGS. 1 and 2, with relation to the strap portion of the device at it) and 12, and the members 22 and 40 are spaced substantially throughout the lengths thereof from the straps. If desired, the rigid members 22, 24, may be placed under tension in such a way that they tend to move outwardly away from the body at their ends in the pockets. This will maintain the ends of the parts 22 and 24 in constant spaced relation at the ends thereof as well as at the peak or top of the shoulder, under influence of springs 28. For this reason, a blow from any direction will be absorbed by the rigid outer members before it is transmitted to any part of the protected area of the body of the athlete. The main protection dissipated by springs 28 resides in any knid of blow at the topmost portion of the guards such as will be received by the player as he faces forwardly with head lowered to some extent, as is usual in a game such as football.

Also it is to be observed that blows on the shoulder cap portions 40 will likewise be absorbed to a certain degree by the construction above recited, and it is furthermore pointed out that the usual two-part construction of the shoulder cap is done away with by reason of the shaped substantially rigid cap portions 40 which are also molded of plastic material of high impact strength.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A protective shoulder pad for athletic use comprising a supporting member mounted on the shoulders of the user, means forming pockets on said supporting member, said pockets being arranged on said supporting member and adapted to lie at the chest and back of the body of the user, resilient means located in said pockets a protective member, terminal portions thereof slidably mounted within said pockets and resting on and being supported by said resilient means, said protective member being held by said resilient means in spaced relation with respect to the supporting member, the protective member being located exteriorly with relation to said supporting member and being in a position to absorb a blow thereon, the supporting member conforming closely to the shoulders of the user thereof, said protective member being bodily displaced by said blow against the action of the resilient means toward the supporting member and absorbing the blow, said resilient means returning the protective member to original spaced condition relative to the supporting member.

2. The protective clothing of claim 1 in which the supporting member is in the form of a web supported from the shoulders of the user, and said pockets are located at the front and rear of the body of the user, with the protective member covering the shoulder from front to rear and being substantially shaped to the shoulder.

3. The protective clothing of claim 1 wherein said supporting member is in the form of web supported on the shoulders of the user and the protective member covers the shoulders and the web.

' 4. The protective clothing of claim 1 wherein said protective members covers a shoulderof the user and comprises a pair of elements, one of which is directly supported by said resilient means in said pockets and the other of which is movably attached to the first member and covers the shoulder and outer upper arm of the wearer, both said elements being substantially rigid.

5. Protective clothing for althletic use comprising a pair of body supports, one for each shoulder of the user, said body supports being adapted to extend downwardly from the shoulders to the chest and back respectively, means forming a deep pocket at the terminal portions of each body support, there being a pocket on each body support at the chest area and one at the back area, the two pockets at the chest area being spaced apart and the two pockets at the back area being spaced apart, and means adapted to hold said body support to the upper part of the body of the user thereof, a protective memher in the form of a substantially rigid arched member adapted to be located above each shoulder and having terminal portions at the front and rear thereof, extending down and into the respective pair of p0cket-forming means at the chest and back of the wearer, resilient means located in each pocket, said protective member terminal portions resting on said resilient means and being normally resiliently held thereby in spaced relation above the body support and above the shoulders of the user, said protective members being dislodged and moved inwardly toward the body support upon a blow being struck thereon, compressing the resilient means and thus absorbing the blow, said resilient means returning the protective members to original spaced relation with respect to said body support upon release of the pressure occasioning said blow.

6. Protective clothing recited in claim 5 including an additional body protective member for each first-named protective member, the additional protective member being adapted to overlie the upper and outer portion of the shoulder of the user and depending downwardly to cover a portion of the upper arm of the user,

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,185,758 Ashton June 6, 1916 1,640,042 Latina Aug. 23, 1927 1,709,184 Mullins Apr. 16, 1929 1,761,093 Shotwell June 3, 1930 2,306,362 Wolff Dec. 22, 1942 2,545,039 Mitchel Mar. 13, 1951 

